Ok I have a question. I'm kinda a noob when it comes to privacy. I'll follow the guides and do the things to try to minimize ad companies selling my data etc.

Some basic stats: I have a Samsung running stock android. My GF has an iPhone. I use brave as my standard browser (I know that's not super popular but I haven't made the move to Firefox yet.) I have DNS level ad blocking on my router cause I hate ads with a passion. She uses safari.

So here's the deal. I was browsing the web looking for gift ideas for Christmas and came across some moccasins I liked. I mentioned to her that I liked them and browsed their website for a few minutes.

About 10 minutes after that, she's checking her Instagram and sees an ad for the exact brand of moccasin I just told her about. Just for kicks, she also checks her Facebook and sees the same ad there (makes sense cause it's the same company).

My question is basically how on earth did she get an ad for something I looked up? And how can we prevent that from happening? It's very very disconcerting to have ads pop up on others' phones right after looking that thing up.

So a while back I came across an article/essay talking about how privacy is more than just a personal right and rather something about society as a whole. It went into detail about different arguments against privacy, such as when personal privacy is sacrificed for the good of the people. I remember a good chunk of it talked about reframing the concept as privacy as a right and the pitfalls of that definition.

I can't remember the name of the article or where I read it and I was hoping one of you might know what I'm talking about, or even have something similar to share